Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. I do, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe.

Jolene grabbed a basket from one of the cubbyholes custom-built into the wall opposite the sliding glass doors in the family room. Padding around barefoot in the bright and sunny room, Jolene started picking up toys and tossing them into the basket, clearing the floor of Maddy's mess. No matter how hard she tried, Jolene still couldn't get her stubborn 3-year old to clean up after herself. Even though it pissed her off to the extreme, Jolene almost smiled.

Like father, like daughter.

While Abel most definitely got his neat freak tendencies from her, after living together for 3 years and being married now for almost 4, it was apparent that those tendencies had not rubbed off on Jax. God only knew what went through her old man's mind sometimes, but it was clear that Jax still had no clue how to use a hamper. Instead of lifting the lid in order to put dirty clothes inside, he was still piling his funky drawers on top of the hamper. Deciding to look at the glass as half full, Jolene really couldn't complain because at least his dirty clothes were now at least in the vicinity of the hamper and not scattered around the house like in the past.

Maddy's room, on the other hand, was starting to resemble her father's old dorm at the Clubhouse. With TJ down for a nap, Jolene was tempted to yank her daughter away from playing in the backyard with Abel, Kenny, and Ellie for another lesson on cleaning up after oneself. But the truth was, she needed to keep herself busy. It kept her from hovering by the door of Jax's man cave, through which he and Opie had disappeared about two hours ago.

Since Donna and Piney's burial, the Winston kids had been staying with her and Jax. Jolene loved those kids with all her heart, but it had been almost a week since Kenny and Ellie had seen their father. Looking gaunt and disheveled, Opie had shown up at the Teller doorstep just before lunchtime. Jolene could smell his whiskey-soaked breath even before he opened his mouth, surprising Jolene by brusquely asking to see Jax, instead of seeking out his children.

Jolene and Jax, even Gemma, Clay and Neeta, had been doing their best to comfort the grieving children. They had an abundance of love and support while in the Teller home and Jolene tried to keep their routine as normal as possible, but they needed their father. Opie had always been such a big part of their lives since the day they were born. He had always been a very hands-on father and Jolene could sense that some of Kenny and Ellie's grief came from feeling abandoned by their father since their mother and grandfather had been put into the ground.

"They still down there, honey?"

Jolene turned to meet Neeta's solemn gaze. The older woman was standing in the hallway leading off to the kitchen, holding a dish towel in her hands. Somehow, Jolene had unknowingly made her way back to Jax's door, holding the toy basket under her arm, propped against her cocked hip.

She nodded as she put the basket down by her feet. "I just have a bad feeling about this, Neeta. If I can feel Ope pulling away from his family, how do you imagine those kids must feel? They've already lost their mother and grandfather. They can't lose—" Jolene bit her lip in an effort to hold back her tears, and failed.

Neeta wrapped her arms around the suddenly weepy woman. "No, no, baby girl. I've known Opie Winston as long as I've known you and Jax. Ya'll are cut from the same cloth. He has suffered a great loss, but he will bounce back, like ya'll always do." Neeta assured her as she gently pushed Jolene away. "These tears, Jo—you really have to let go of all that guilt. I can feel it radiating off you."

Jolene was rapidly blinking her eyes as Neeta wiped away her tears with the dish towel. "But it should have been me, Neeta." Jolene whispered.

"Oh my sweet Jesus, girl! Don't you go around saying that nonsense. Don't you even think it, you hear? It wouldn't just devastate your old man to hear that shit, but your precious babies, too." Neeta chastised. "What happened, happened. It was chance, not fate. Donna was a wonderful person and what happened wasn't fair, but she made the choice to protect Maddy and TJ. Would you have done any different had it been Kenny and Ellie who had been in harm's way?"

Jolene was shaking her head vehemently. "No, I wouldn't. I love those children like they are my own."

"Then all you can do is accept what has happened and do your best to do right by Donna's children. Comfort Opie and help him through this bad time in his life. It won't be easy, but you are a strong old lady and I know you can do it. It's what Donna would want you to do."

Jolene wrapped her arm around her friend. "What would I do without you?"

"You would have figured it all out, baby girl, but I'll always be around when you need me. Now come on, let's go get some food packed up and ready to go for Opie to take for him and the kids."

It had been too early in the day to start drinking and Jax knew he'd be in deep shit with his old lady if she found out, especially since Opie looked and smelled like he had been on a non-stop bender since the after-Church party last night. But after the two men had shared superficial pleasantries, there had been nothing left to do while Jax waited Opie out. So until his friend was ready to discuss the real reason he had stopped by, Jax broke out a bottle of JD and two glasses and they spent the better part of the next two hours downing shots and reminiscing. The Jack finally did its job by loosening Opie's tongue.

After a long pause, the next words to come out of his mouth were stark, spoken without emotion or rancor. Even as the statement filled the room and hung over both brothers like a dark cloud, Jax couldn't say that it had been unexpected.

"I want to go Nomad."

Leaning back on one of the comfortable leather armchairs in his man cave, Jax contemplated his friend, who was sitting across from him. He was barely recognizable from the man that Jax had known practically since birth.

Opie Winston and Jax Teller were probably the closest of all the brothers in the mother charter. They had grown up together, raised hell together and had become men together. They had gone through many trials and tribulations together. From the death of Jax's younger brother, to their brief separation when Mary had decided that she'd had enough of Piney's bullshit and moved to Galt with her son—only to have him runaway and return to his father. To coping with the death of Jax's father, incarceration, and through Jax's tumultuous relationship with his old lady, they had always managed to be there for each other.

But Opie had never suffered a loss quite like this. Over the years, there had been plenty of deaths in the SAMCRO family, but Ope had never dealt with a loss on such a personal level. Losing the love of his life and the mother of his children had been devastating enough, but to have it quickly followed by the death of the man Opie swore as a kid could walk on water had crippled him. Jax could see it in his friend's eyes, once so expressive and soulful were now just dead pools, a reflection of the empty void that his life had become seemingly overnight. The past couple of weeks seemed like a cruel, heartless joke. A nightmare everyone wished they could wake up from, and for the first time in their long friendship, Jax wasn't sure if he could help Opie.

But he had to try.

"Ope—" He started, but his friend was already shaking his head.

"It's for the best, Jax. I just can't stay here." Opie reasoned quietly. "Stay in that house. I can't even bring myself to ride down the street where she died."

Jax tried again. "You need your family, Ope."

"I don't have a family anymore." He replied in an emotionless tone, his eyes downcast.

"Yes, you do, bro. You have kids who love you and need you now more than ever." Opie had always been a dedicated and loving father and it alarmed Jax to see his brother so overwhelmed by his grief.

The thought that someone as strong and forthright as Opie could be brought to his knees scared the shit out of Jax. As a father himself, Jax couldn't bring himself to contemplate his old lady checking out before him. He had already visited that scary place before, so many years ago when Jolene had been shot by Whistler, and he knew he couldn't go back there again. He knew the impact that kind of loss would have on him and his family and Jax couldn't rebuke his brother for feeling that way himself.

"I can't be there for them. Not now. Not in the way they need me to be." Opie shook his head, tears he was unafraid to cry in front of his brother running down his cheeks. "How can I look them in the eyes, knowing that I'm responsible for their mother's death?"

"You are not responsible!" Jax said angrily. He was exhausted from walking on eggshells around all of this misplaced guilt. First with his old lady, then Tig, and now Opie. "The fuckin' Calaveras are responsible. No one else."

"Really?" Opie sneered. "Not even my so-called brother?"

"Yes, not even your brother, who no more wanted this to happen than you did." Jax exclaimed.

"But it happened any fuckin' way!"

"Yeah, it did." Jax nodded solemnly. "Bro, I can't even imagine what you're going through right now, but I have some idea. For four years the woman I loved was out of my life and I didn't know if I would ever see her again. That not knowing, it drove me to do some serious damage, to myself and to my family. I ran away every chance I got and tried to dull the pain with all the wrong things. All I accomplished was getting tied down to some crank whore who caused us all a shit load of problems in the end. I love ya, Ope and I don't want to see any more bad shit happen to you."

Opie remembered the pain his friend had lived in for years. At times, he truly believed that Jax wasn't going to make it out alive. However, there had been one major difference.

"But you got Jo back. I, on the other hand, will never get to hold Donna in my arms again. We'll never make love again. Never argue. Never laugh. And my children will grow up motherless." Opie said bitterly.

"And that's why you need to stay here, in Charming. Going Nomad won't change any of that. Whatever problems you have in dealing with this, Ope, won't go away. Those problems and, who knows, probably a whole new set will be waiting for you when you get back." Jax explained. Shaking his head, Jax—who thought he'd never be able to do it to his friend—pulled rank. "I won't let you do it."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Opie growled.

"It means you need a unanimous vote for a transfer and, even if you manage to convince the others at the table to vote your way, you're not gonna get one." Jax leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as he looked a seething Opie in the eye. "You need to get out for a while? Fuck, I can understand that shit. Get out, hit the open road. Go walkabout. Take some time to clear the noise in your head, but then you come back home to your family, Ope. To your brotherhood."

"And what if I can't?" The words were barely audible and Jax had never seen his brother look so lost.

"Meaning?" Jax asked, his jaw clenched tight.

"What if I don't want to come back? Back to SAMCRO?"

For a moment, the weight of the words being spoken truly stunned Jax into silence. He swallowed and finally replied, "Then we'll deal with it if and when we have to."

Jax quirked an eyebrow as he turned down the hall towards the kitchen. The sound of his old lady's genuine laughter had been sorely missed around the Teller home in recent weeks, but it was finally back and, apparently, with a vengeance.

Jax smiled as he leaned against the doorjamb to watch his old lady kidding around with Neeta as Jolene packed some freshly baked cookies into airtight containers. Neeta Benson probably had no idea what a gift she actually was to his family, so Jax made a mental note to let her know, and soon.

First, he was gonna get as much of an eyeful as he could of Jolene in a pair of tight, black hot pants that he was sure were too indecently short to be worn outside the house. Shit, he could see the curve of her perfectly round ass cheeks winking at him and she wasn't even bending down. Debating in his mind whether or not she had gone commando, Jax was in serious danger of having his own pants grow increasingly tighter around the crotch area when Neeta, noticing him out of the corner of her eye, gently nudged Jolene with her elbow.

Turning to him, her eyes sparkling, Jolene smiled. "Hey, baby." She held her arms out and open for him.

Quickly crossing the room, Jax wrapped his arms around his wife and lifted her up until her legs instinctively gripped him around the waist.

"Excuse us, Neeta." Jax cheekily threw her a wink.

"Hey, no problem." Neeta grabbed one of the cookie containers and headed to the French doors leading to the backyard. "The minute baby girl wrapped those legs around ya, I knew that was my cue to get myself gone."

Can't say I blame her, neither. If I thought he could carry my weight, I might be tempted to jump on him myself, Neeta laughed out loud.

Jax raised an eyebrow at Neeta's loud bawdy cackle causing Jolene to giggle. "Don't ask." Knowing Neeta like she did, Jolene knew exactly what the older woman was cackling about.

Jax was looking at her with a hint of a smile on his lips, Jolene noticed. Not giving her a chance to speak and, in order to avoid the inevitable, Jax let his soft, warm lips cover her mouth, before he gently sucked on her bottom lip, opening her up to a deeper, hotter kiss. With her tiny fists balled up in his hair and his slightly calloused hands stroking the soft skin of her back underneath her tank, Jax reveled in having his passionate and hot old lady back in his arms. Everyone mourns differently and Jolene had needed her time to grieve, but shit, he had missed her.

Knowing that what he had to tell her would probably throw her into a funk again, Jax was determined to enjoy it while it lasted. Placing her on the counter, Jolene let out a soft moan as Jax dropped his mouth to work on her neck as his hands traveled north up the front of her shirt.

"Baby," Jolene laughed, her voice husky with passion. "Are you forgetting we have guests? The kids and Neeta are right outside and—where's Ope? Please tell me you sent his stank ass up upstairs to take a shower." She was holding his face lovingly in her hands and Jax had to close his eyes in frustration, realizing that he'd probably had his old lady back for just a fleeting moment.

Gently placing her back on her bare feet, Jax took his time righting her slightly askew clothing in a bid to postpone telling her what she needed to know.

Finally, he shook his head. "Nah, darlin'. Ope left."

By the look on her face, Jax knew she was hoping she had heard him wrong. "I'm sorry, baby. What did you say?"

"He's gone, Jo. He only dropped by to talk about going Nomad." Jax replied.

"What?!" Jolene gasped, her eyes wide and her breathing quickening.

"Don't worry, babe." Jax wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her against his body. "I talked him out of it."

He felt his old lady's shoulders slump beneath the weight of his arm. "Oh shit, that's a relief."

"Not really." Jax nearly whispered against her temple. "He's still leaving. He's gonna hit the road for a while, clear his head."

Jolene pulled away from Jax and looked up at him with shock and something more—anger, maybe?—reflected in her huge green eyes. "When?"

"Today. Right now, actually. Said he was leaving as soon as he was done talking to me." Jax replied, already hating himself for letting his brother walk out on his family.

Jolene was ready to spit she was so heated and angry. "And you just let him go?" She stormed.

"What was I supposed to do, Jo? He's a grown man." Jax reasoned, unconvinced himself.

"You're his President. He's your VP. He's the only parent those kids have left!"

"Babe, he's hurting." Jax said remorsefully.

"We're all fucking hurting!" Jolene almost yelled and quickly got herself under control. Last thing she wanted right now was everyone coming in from the backyard to check on what's going on. "I know he's hurting, Jax, but so are his kids."

"I know and I tried talking him through it, but he totally shut down on me, Jo. He blames himself and doesn't think his kids deserve a father like him and there was no convincing him otherwise." Jax explained.

Jolene ran her hands through her loose curls. "But he didn't even stay long enough to talk to his kids." She lamented, her mother's heart breaking for those two innocent children. Looking Jax in the eyes, the hurt Jolene was feeling was quickly replaced by righteous anger. "I suppose it's up to me to break the news to Kenny and Ellie?"

Jax nodded as Jolene chuckled cynically. "I'll be right there with you, Jo. He just thought it would be better coming from you instead of Mary."

Jolene was incredulous. "Are you shitting me? No one should have to have that conversation with them. He should have stayed and sought comfort from his kids, his family."

"I understand where you're coming from, but maybe taking time off to clear his head is the right call for Ope. It's a helluva lot better than going Nomad." Jax reasoned and quickly continued as he saw Jolene's temper about to flare. "Babe, taking to the road was just about the only way I kept myself going after you left Charming."

"But you always came back, Jax. Who's to say that he will?" Jolene asked.

"No one can say, not even Ope." Jax replied and her eyes widened. "He doesn't know if he wants to come back to SAMCRO." Jolene was speechless and Jax took the opportunity to step forward and pull her into his arms. "Listen, all Ope knows is SAMCRO. He'll be back. I know he will, but right now he's in the type of head space that can send him screaming into the night. He needs to get a handle on his shit, but I don't think he believes he can do it here."

"And what about Ellie and Kenny? How do they cope?" Jolene questioned, at a loss herself at the thought of losing Opie on top of losing Donna and Piney. "What are we supposed to do while he's on the road?"

"Ope made arrangements with Mary. He asked her to come down from Galt for a few weeks while he gets his shit straight and she'll be back in town tomorrow." Jax assured her. "I know Ope, darlin'. He'll be back in a few weeks, a month at the most."

Jolene looked up at Jax, wanting to believe in what he was saying. She could tell by the look in his soulful eyes that he wanted to believe it too. Truth was, the decision had already been made and even if it hadn't, it wasn't hers or Jax's or anyone else's to make. With Neeta's words from earlier ringing in her head, Jolene hoped that Opie found the peace he was so desperately seeking on the road, but she had work to do and right now that meant making sure she did right by Donna's kids.

Hector Salazar closed the back door and headed down to the basement of the house that he and Luisa were using as a hideout. Hector always waited until dark to make a food run into a nearby town to avoid being seen. Keeping them fed was a time-consuming process. Not only did he have to double-back several times in case he was being followed, but he had to make sure he stashed the car he had borrowed from Luisa's cousin a good distance away from their hideout before returning to the house with the food.

The dilapidated house they were hiding out in wasn't in the best of neighborhoods, which was a definite plus as far as Hector was concerned. The local pigs that barely patrolled the streets around here during daylight hours certainly weren't stupid enough to come into this area at night. The basement was fully furnished and had several small windows, which Luisa had blacked out to prevent any light or movement to be seen from the outside. It wasn't no fancy crib, but it was a good enough place for them to hole up in while he figured out his next move.

After barely managing to escape being ambushed by the Sons at the CL's industrial park in Lodi, Hector had managed to hook up with Luisa. For a couple of weeks they had jumped from town to town in order to stay a step ahead of SAMCRO, but had quickly run out of Luisa's relatives willing to give them shelter. Luisa had been getting tired of moving around so much anyway and, quite frankly, even though he was too, he was more tired of hearing her bitch about it.

Fortunately, Hector had finally come up with a possible plan to get them out of California and had secured this house in order to execute that plan. Now, all they needed to do was figure out how to get their plan in motion before whatever money Hector had managed to secure before dropping off the grid ran out.

"Papi, you forgot the M&M's again." Luisa whined as she went through the shopping bags.

Hector rolled his eyes. "Look, just be glad you got something to eat, all right? I have too much shit to deal with right now and your fuckin' candy sure ain't one of them." He growled.

It's all her fuckin' fault anyways, Hector angrily eyed his woman's back as she continued to paw through the bags.

Hector rued the day he had come into that stupid bar where everything he had worked so hard for had gone to shit. As much as he wanted to believe in Luisa's loyalty to him as his old lady, there had been just one too many instances where she had played the innocent. It was usually after getting caught standing too close to some man with his hand on her ass, with Luisa later claiming that he had come on to her. His own mother hated Luisa, calling her a faithless puta to her face, so deep down Hector had had his doubts about how things had truly gone down with her and that Son at the bar.

Truth was, he had been prepared to let that shit go until that scumbag SAMCRO SAA had killed his young cousin. Hector's fate had been sealed right then, so even when Marcus Alvarez had ordered him to let it go, Hector knew that he couldn't and he wouldn't. Instead, he had botched a hit on those sons of bitches so badly that nearly half his Club was either dead or in jail, with his best friend and VP missing.

Edgar had never called him as planned the day after their escape from Lodi and, through his contacts, Hector later discovered that Alvarez had stripped him of his President's patch and had given it to Roscoe. In an effort to make nice with the Sons, Alvarez had also declared that Hector was to be brought in alive so that he could turn him over to SAMCRO.

Hector had been so proud that he had been the one to negotiate the deal that included having the Mayans patch over his Club. As a bonus, Hector would become an officer while his crew helped Alvarez expand the Mayan H trade. The deal would have brought Hector and his brothers a whole lot of cash and he would have been a part of a well-known criminal organization whose name inspired equal parts fear and respect.

Only now did he realize what he had been up against. Not having yet been patched over, there was no way the Mayans would have risked igniting a war with SAMCRO by sanctioning the hit on their SAA. Alvarez had offered to broker a sit down between the two crews, but Hector had brushed it off, chalking it up to a lack of balls on the aging Mayan's part. Now Roscoe, the puto bitch who refused to back his President up by taking over the streets of Charming, would be the one to benefit from the deal he had arranged.

With both the Sons and the Mayans looking for him, Hector knew that sooner or later, someone would find him. He had to strike first before that happened. His plan, though risky, was all he could think of that would not only net him some easy money, but would help him avenge Pozo.

Only then can me and Luisa can get the hell out of California.

Ordering his old lady to fix him something to eat, Hector sat down in an old worn armchair while he continued plotting out his plan.

Payback is a bitch, esé.

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry I'm late with this chapter. I had every intention of posting this chapter yesterday, but I was so totally on pins and needles for the SOA Season 5 premiere that neither me or my beta could handle proofreading the final draft! Thanks to all my readers for hanging in with me on this new story and for your wonderful reviews. It's been a pretty tumultuous time for Jaxene's SAMCRO family.

So do you think Opie's justified in leaving his children behind while he deals with the loss of his old lady? How do you think Kenny and Ellie will be affected by their father's leaving? Do you think Salazar realizes the enormity of the situation he has created for himself in continuing his beef in SAMCRO?

With the worst of the angst over with (for now), the next couple of chapters will center on the relationships between SAMCRO and the town, Opie's kids, and Tig dealing with the havoc his actions have caused before Opie finally returns to Charming, which will bring another interesting level to this story before its conclusion. Please review and/or PM me, guys. I can't wait to hear what you think.

FYI: As for my story Four Women, feedback has been extremely light, which makes me wonder if there's any real interest, so I'm considering taking a little break from it. I definitely plan on finishing it, but I'm really feeling Charming Revisited right now and have several other stories related to the Jaxene Universe I want to tackle. I have a rough draft of the next chapter of Four Women, which I will post before putting the story on hold.